Sebastien Loeb claimed his fifth win of the WRC Rally d’Italia Sardegna this past weekend, recorded his 64th WRC career win and has also moved seven points clear of Mikko Hirvonen in the Drivers’ Championship. This rally was a thriller, from the first stage to the last, and was another Loeb Show performance that wowed all fans and critics, WRITES EVAN ROTHMAN.
The opening day of the rally thrilled rally enthusiasts with its beautiful scenery, high drama and demanding nature of the route. Eight punishing stages run over 131km of intense competition saw seven-times World Champions Loeb and Daniel Elena (Citroen Total World Rally Team) led privateers Petter Solberg/Chris Patterson (Petter Solberg World Rally Team), with a hard-charging Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen (Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team) in third place and only 53.1sec behind the overnight leader.
Testament to his speed and sheer driving talents, Loeb dispelled the theory that the first car over the stages would suffer from the road-sweeping phenomena. The Frenchman was able to not only set competitive stage times, but he also managed to open up a considerable advantage of 33.2sec ahead of his rivals.
Hirvonen was in embroiled in a head-to-head battle with Loeb throughout Day One until SS5 when he dropped time as a result of an unfortunate puncture. Separated by only 01.2sec from Loeb at the beginning of SS5, Hirvonen was proving his car’s mighty pace and a solid and concerted effort in the afternoon’s remaining loop of stages saw Hirvonen minimize the loss of stage time to the leader.
Sebastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassi (Citroen Total World Rally Team) finished Day One in fourth place after an up-and-down day in their rally machine. They were only 02.4sec behind Hirvonen at the overnight halt and less than 10sec ahead of Mads Ostberg/Jonas Andersson (Stobart Ford M-Sport World Rally Team), while Dani Sordo rewarded the MINI Motorsport team with a fantastic debut to end Day One of the MINI WRC Team’s first competitive outing in sixth place overall and only 29sec off Ostberg and 01min 33.2sec behind former team-mate Loeb.
The fastest of the SWRC runners was Estonian sensation Ott Tanak (Ford Fiesta S2000), who was seventh overall on the rally’s leader board at the close of Day One. He was 25.7sec ahead of Martin Prokop (Ford Fiesta S2000) and reigning Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion Juho Hanninen (Skoda Fabia S2000), a further 18.1sec adrift in third in Class.
The WRC Rally d’Italia Sardegna’s Day Two was played out over 143km and six make-or-break stages.
Loeb increased his grip on the winners’ trophy on Day Two when he maintained his lead of almost 30sec ahead of his determined rivals.
The Frenchman began Saturday’s first stage with an advantage of 33.2sec. After completing the day’s final stage, the 14.21km test, Loeb stated that his lead of 28.3sec would be enough for him to clinch the rally win, his fourth on the Mediterranean island.
“It was a great day, a very hard day also, but a great day,” said Loeb. “It’s really difficult to accept losing time when you are cleaning the road in difficult conditions, but we had to keep concentrated and continue to believe it would be okay. Twenty-eight seconds should be enough but it’s still a difficult day tomorrow.”
Hirvonen was locked in an all-out battle for second with Sebastien Ogier (Citroen Total World Rally Team) and Petter Solberg. The three drivers were separated by a little more than 10sec after 274km of special stages and the smallest slips in concentration on Day Three’s final four stages would drop a crew off the podium.
The Finnish star Hirvonen managed to retain his second place, but was only 06.3sec ahead of Ogier and Solberg a further 04.9sec behind.
Despite a puncture on the day’s second speed test, Solberg’s overall time was very impressive. Once more, WRC and rally pundits will be left wondering what Solberg might have been capable of on Day Three had the puncture on Day Two not cost him valuable time…
Spectacular in his M-Sport Stobart Ford World Rally Team’s Fiesta RS WRC was Norwegian Mads Ostberg, finishing Day Two in a highly commendable fifth.
Sordo once again showed the potential of his MINI John Cooper Works WRC machine when he stopped his car at the overnight Parc Ferme in sixth overall. His teammate, Irishman Kris Meeke, was less fortunate after he was forced to stop on the second test on Day Two due to a water leak to add to his frustrating WRC debut.
Ott Tanak was still at the head of the SWRC category and in seventh overall, with IRC Champion and Skoda driver Juho Hanninen in eighth position.
The driver of Day Two was undoubtedly Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team) who restarted Day Two under SupeRally rules after retiring on Day One after an ‘off’ that resulted in suspension failure on his Ford Fiesta RS WRC. Of the six stages, Latvala record five scratch times, to leave his rivals thankful he was not able to leapfrog them on the leader board.
Loeb kept the pressure and rhythm high on Day Three of the rally, and finished the rally with a lead of 11.2sec over Hirvonen. Solberg rounded out the podium positions with another heroic drive in his Citroen DS3 WRC.
“Leading from nearly the start that’s really a good job,” said Loeb. “Mikko was pushing very hard behind so we really had to take big risks all the time. We lost time in some places because of the cleaning but we took it back in some other places. It was really a hard fight but I did not believe at the start of the rally that I could make it like this.”
Hirvonen, sniffing an opportunity to attack for the lead, cut into Loeb’s lead on the first of the day’s stages, but overshoot on a junction on the next stage to hand Loeb back the advantage. However, the rally organisers retrospectively corrected a timing error made on SS10 in favour of Hirvonen, Loeb’s lead shrunk to 14sec with just the Power Stage left to run.
Hirvonen went fastest through this 8.24km stage, but it wasn’t enough to topple Loeb and his incredible driving skill on this rally from the top spot on the podium.
Ogier started Day Three 04.9sec up on Solberg in third overall and was looking set to claim the podium position, but on SS17 a broken rear suspension in his Citroen DS3 WRC put paid to those aims. Repairs at Service enabled Ogier to continue to the finish in fourth, ahead of M-Sport Stobart Ford World Rally Team driver Mads Ostberg
Sordo marked the debut of MINI’s John Cooper Works WRC by clinching sixth overall.
SWRC winner Ott Tanak maintained his grip on seventh overall in his Ford Fiesta S2000 and finished comfortably clear of SWRC rival Juho Hanninen, who took eighth overall in his Skoda Fabia S2000.
Matthew Wilson overcame the brake and steering woes that slowed him on day one to secure ninth overall in his M-Sport Stobart Fiesta, the fourth time this season that he has scored world championship points.
Nasser Al-Attiyah’s recovery from his delays on the first day culminated in the final drivers’ championship point in tenth overall.
Final Overall Classification:
01) S. Loeb (Citroen DS3 WRC) – 03h 45, 40.9s
02) M. Hirvonen (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) + 11.2s
03) P. Solberg (Citroen DS3 WRC) + 23.8s
04) S. Ogier (Citroen DS3 WRC) + 01m 31.5s
05) M. Ostberg (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) + 02m 42.6s
06) D. Sordo (MINI WRC) + 03m 27.6s
07) O. Tanak (Ford Fiesta S2000) + 07m 10.9s
08) J. Hanninen (Skoda Fabia S2000) + 07m 37.6s
09) M. Wilson (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) + 08m 00.4s
10) N. Al- Attiyah (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) + 12m 33.8s